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19:39 CT: P370 by Michigan City, 4 minutes late

Darn, saw the hole on the board the other day and just assumed it was a temporary outage.

Everybody is switching away from ATCS to CTC-over-PTC to eliminate otherwise redundant equipment. I would expect most if not all ATCS to be gone within just a couple of years.

I spent a night in Deshler for about 22 hours in but we saw no trains use the NW Wye but some guy told me there that a couple months ago there was a coal train with BNSF power that used it does the NW Wye still see traffic? If not why don't they tear it out? If they tear it out, then they'll have t...

We don't know why the ITCS display did not warn the engineer that the crossing was occupied. However, the accident still could have been avoided. According to press reports the tow truck driver and/or person with vehicle stuck on the track called 911 instead of the emergency number shown on the cro...

JBaxter wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 27, 2023 8:14 am

Typically they do their Santa train on the old Clinchfield line in Kentucky and Tennessee, but would be very cool for it to go system wide at some point.

They already did that for the year - this is new and in addition!

They might just be leased to GLC, thus not needing to be returned until the lease is expired. Probably something like this. Demurrage isn’t always charged since it’s a “keep it moving” charge based on the idea that the car is being essentially short-term leased for each load. The car owner needs to...

19:38 CT: P370 by Michigan City, 4 minutes late

The cops, tow truck driver and driver of the original vehicle should never attempt an escape room because they’re clearly very bad at looking around for clues on what they should do next. Per a reliable source, the equipment that was taken off the rail had wheels/trucks too badly damaged to attempt ...

I have some fairly good intel that the police called CSX instead of Amtrak, being that the same road also crosses the GR Sub. Sounds like the police were maybe approved to work on the basis that the GR Sub was Ok.

Amtrak P370-19 @ 21:08 eastward reported by the Defect Detector mp CG91.9 St Joseph, Mi. with 24 axles. IDTX engine #4602 & 5 cars (Venture Business + Venture Coach + NE Regional AmCafe + 2 Venture Coaches). Wow, they actually managed to find a couple extra cars for the holiday? :roll: Another year...

Instead, the overly expedited attempt at saving a replaceable vehicle greatly multiplied the damage and resulted in injuries and potentially, far worse. It is quite shameful the disregard to safety displayed at the scene. There are several things mentioned in your post that I think need to be addre...

19:36 CT: P370 by Michigan City, 1 minute late

I've heard more on the story that Amtrak was never contacted although police apparently said they were. I think there needs to be more education for people to use that 1-800# versus waiting on PD or other agencies to make the call. I'm not narking on anyone because I believe that tow truck driver a...

Looks like both videos got taken down…

CSXBOY wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 17, 2023 8:08 pm

Gotcha. Did the Via units ever make it across the border when they ran the international? Or did they power swap for Amtrak in Port Huron? How did that work before 911?

Both trainsets went all the way, in a true pooled equipment setup.

I'm sure this will have it's date in court.

Not certain if it is a railroad by railroad or FRA thing, but usually for a mainline switch in signal territory either a dwarf “come-out” signal or an electric switch lock is required. Many places prefer the signal so as to minimize the moveable parts that need to be maintained and tested. At the ra...

The new satellite dishes at the old CTC locations seem to suggest that they're retiring the codeline in favor of satellite communications with the backoffice, but potentially keeping the signal system itself the same. Theoretically it's just changing the method of communication, with some components...

Nick, trying to inflate the train count numbers in your head does nothing to change the number of trains actually running that you can possibly see. Coming up with a higher number does nothing. I see this all the time in this hobby. For some reason people want to inflate the counts as if it actuall...

SD80MAC wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:09 pm

I was in East Lansing from 11 am until 5 pm today, and during that time CN ran a total of 6 trains. 6.

Perfect for a 24 hour average of about 24 trains. Sounds reasonable given all that has been stated here.